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Louisville, KY

Prison Inmate Accused Of 1980 Rape Of Louisville Woman

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- After nearly three decades, the brutal raping and sodomizing of a woman in downtown Louisville may have finally been solved.

Metro police said they've made an arrest in the oldest cold case in the history of the Commonwealth.

Investigators said on July 4, 1980, the victim was on her way to work when a man approached her with a knife at Broadway and Barrett Avenue.

They said the man forced her under a nearby railroad trestle, where he sexually abused her.

According to detectives, James Mobley threatened her with the knife if she tried to escape or call for help.

Former Police Lt. Barron Combs said he went with the victim to the hospital.

"It always stuck in my mind -- that look on her face at the hospital," Combs said. "She was frightened to death. Scared -- disbelief that it happened to her."

On Tuesday, the now 60-year-old Mobley was indicted on charges of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and robbery -- after DNA from the victim's rape kit recently matched his.

Mobley was convicted in 1982 of three counts of sodomy against a second victim and has been in prison ever since.

Last year, state Rep. Reginald Meeks helped pass a law that requires convicted felons to submit to DNA testing.

"This man's been in prison since 1981 and we would never have gone out and had his DNA collected otherwise," LMPD Sex Crimes Unit Sgt. Andy Abbott said.

Mobley is serving four life sentences at the Kentucky State Reformatory. He's scheduled to be arraigned next week.

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